Requirements for licenses to practice medicine differ from state to state, and even when information is available across state lines, license portability can be administratively burdensome. The Federation of State Medical Boards' (FSMB) Interstate Medical Licensure Compact...
Although many hospitals are signing on with Patient Safety Organizations (PSOs), a number are still on the sidelines for various reasons. There is the fear that reported data will be discoverable; uncertainty about what reporting to a PSO entails, what data to include, and...
As the provision of healthcare becomes more integrated and focused on improving quality, organizations of all sizes will need to rethink how they credential, privilege, and conduct peer review of physicians across entities. Further, as hospitals employ more physicians, they will need to address...
After a soft launch in April 2013, the electronic credentialing verification offering from the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG), the Electronic Portfolio of International Credentials (EPIC), is quietly ramping up. And that's according to plan, says William C. Kelly,...
Communication—whether among physicians, between physicians and nurses, or between physicians and patients—remains central to the ongoing discussion of quality improvement in hospitals and how to build physician ownership and involvement.
Did you know that, hidden away in the CMS Conditions of Participation (CoP), there is an often-overlooked requirement that is ideal for increasing medical staff involvement and improving practice evaluation?
The role of allied health professionals (AHP) continues to grow every year across the country. AHPs have become one of the backbones of providing patient care, and their presence is ever more key to the operation of hospitals and other healthcare facilities.
The landscape of the healthcare environment is constantly changing, now more rapidly and with greater impact than ever before. One change that has invoked more debate than others has been the increase in employed physicians-that is, physicians working directly for a hospital or...
Event reporting in the busy environment of the ED can be a challenge, and many organizations, whether because of distractions, forgetfulness, or simply not understanding a given action's adverse effect on patients, do not do reporting well.
There's an old saying in healthcare that no matter how great your process or policy is, if it's not documented, you didn't really do it. So often, it's the documentation of the policy-not the policy itself-that can cause the most stress, and this frequently comes into play when...
